Tanakh – The original Hebrew version of the Christian Old Testament. It is in Ancient “Biblical” Hebrew. In some cases, it is possible to identify earlier sections on philological reasons.
Torah – The Pentateuch, the first section of Tanakh
Nevi’im – Prophets, the second section of Tanakh
Ketuvim – Writings, the third section of Tanakh
Parasha – A way to divide the Torah; the portion of Torah that is read in a Jewish community during the corresponding week of the Jewish year (over the course of the year, the whole Torah is read)
Beshalach – A Parasha that includes the poem I fell into. My analysis started on this poem.
Haggada – A form of commentary that is not focused on legal issues (often transmitted through stories)
Halakha – The oral law passed along through generations of priests
Mishnah – The first authoritative writings of the oral law (published at about 200 ACE)
Targumim – The translations of books of the Tanakh into Aramaic (likely written between the 2nd century BCE and the 7th century ACE).
Tannaim – The Torah scholars who started writing the Halakhah. They wrote the Mishnah (200 ACE), and the Targumim
Midrashim – Non-authoritative writings of the oral law (published during 200 ACE – 1300 ACE)
Mekhilta deRabbi Ishmael – One of the early Midrashim; ain interesting, early secondary source for us.
Midrash Rabba – A major book of Midrashim
Rishonim – The later Torah scholars of medieval times
Now that we have introduced the basic vocabulary to discuss both primary and secondary sources, it is time to delve deeper into the literary environment.
Born left-handed 